1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus which provides various information, an information receiver which receives various information, an information providing program, an information receiving program and a wireless communication apparatus.
2. Related Art
Recently, short-range wireless communication systems having a transmission distance of approximately 10 m are attracting attention. Whereas the effective transmission distance range of the conventional wireless LAN is at least 100 m, the short-range wireless communication system is short in transmission distance and accordingly power consumption is low. Therefore, the short-range wireless communication system is suitable for information processing apparatuses limited in battery capacity, such as portable information processing apparatuses (hereafter referred to simply as portable terminal) like portable telephones or a PDAs.
One of such short-range wireless communication systems is called Bluetooth™ (see specifications available at a web site http://www.bluetooth.org/. In recent years, portable terminals having communication function according to Bluetooth specifications (hereafter simply referred to as Bluetooth communication function) and apparatuses that provide the portable terminals with various services begin to be spread.
Since the Bluetooth communication function can be implemented with an inexpensive chip and in a smaller size, apparatuses having the Bluetooth communication function are expected to be spread everywhere in the future. As the Bluetooth spreads, a plan is promoted in which it is realized to provide various services according to places in arbitrary places.
For example, in convenience stores, supermarkets, retail stores or the like, provision of service for purchasers, such as electronic coupon service, electronic point service, electronic settlement, electric receipt and voucher issuance, utilizing the Bluetooth is under study. Furthermore, application of the Bluetooth using electronic tickets to gate opening/closing control, settlement and discount service in automatic vending machines, and charge paying in parking lots, filling stations and drive-throughs is also being studied. Besides, access to the Internet, information delivery depending upon specific places, provision of user's position information, and route guide or the like are also possible. As for several services relating to the above-described application, experiments have already been conducted in actual systems.
Hereafter, a conventional technique will be described by taking as an example the case where connection using the Bluetooth is established between a portable terminal having a Bluetooth communication function (hereafter referred to simply as Bluetooth portable terminal) and an information processing apparatus having a Bluetooth communication function and providing various services (hereafter referred to simply as Bluetooth apparatus) and the Bluetooth apparatus provides service for a user having the Bluetooth portable terminal.
First, a procedure for the Bluetooth portable terminal to get service from an arbitrary opposite party in an arbitrary place will now be described.
The Bluetooth portable terminal starts a client application program to get service. Subsequently, the client application in the Bluetooth portable terminal orders a Bluetooth module to execute an inquiry for a predetermined period (for example, 10 seconds) in order to find an apparatus with which communication can be conducted. The Bluetooth module used herein is a communication processing unit that conducts the Bluetooth communication function. The Bluetooth module may be formed of hardware such as a chip or may be formed of software.
If the inquiry is completed after a specified period has elapsed, the client application sends to the Bluetooth module a command for acquiring remote names which are identification names respectively of Bluetooth apparatuses found during that period, or identification names of services provided by the Bluetooth apparatuses.
Subsequently, the client application acquires remote names of all found Bluetooth apparatuses, then shows a list of the acquired remote names to the user, and urges the user to select a Bluetooth apparatus to be connected. Subsequently, the client application orders the Bluetooth module to transmit an ACL connection request command to the Bluetooth apparatus selected by the user.
According to setting, a terminal authentication procedure is conducted during the ACL connection operation in some cases. In some cases, both apparatuses are authenticated by inputting the same link key or the same PIN code in order to create a link key in both apparatuses. For using encryption communication, authentication processing is executed, and then a temporary encryption key for encryption communication is created on the basis of the link key.
After completion of the ACL connection, the client application orders a module called Bluetooth stack to transmit a service information acquisition command. The client application acquires service information from the opposite party apparatus, and thereby acquires information concerning a protocol to be used by the application.
Subsequently, the client application orders the module called Bluetooth stack to execute connection to a protocol to be used by the client application, by using information corresponding to the protocol. For example, if the client application uses OBEX FTP to get service, the client application calls a connection request function for OBEX. In this case, the stack executes connections of RFCOMM (RF+COMM) and L2CAP (Logical Link Protocol and Adaptation Layer Control) in order, and after the completion of connections of L2CAP and RFCOMM, the connection of an OBEX protocol is conducted.
After the completion of the connection of the protocol, the client application conducts server authentication by conducting challenge response or the like at an application level. In the case of OBEX, the OBEX protocol itself has an authentication function. Even if the authentication function in the OBEX protocol is used, therefore, authentication of the service providing apparatus is possible.
By the procedure heretofore described, it becomes possible for the user to get desired service by using the Bluetooth portable terminal.
If the above-described procedure is executed, however, processing time required until the user gets service is typically as long as 10 and several seconds, because the inquiry, which is processing of finding a terminal with which communication can be conducted, is performed for a fixed time even in the case where there is only one apparatus with which communication can be conducted. Furthermore, a remote name is acquired every apparatus. If there are a large number of apparatuses with which communication can be conducted, therefore, the processing time increases in proportion to the number of apparatuses with which communication can be conducted. Supposing that approximately 1 second is required to acquire a remote name and N apparatuses have been found, it takes N seconds to acquire remote names of all apparatuses.
For example, in the case where a plurality of registers are arranged at intervals of 1 m in a supermarket or the like and a shopper searches cash registers in order to make payment by using the Bluetooth portable terminal, connection cannot be conducted unless the shopper waits as long as the time corresponding to the number of cash registers. It thus takes a long time for executing the register work.
By using a COD (Class of Device), which describes information concerning the kind of the Bluetooth apparatus included in information that can be acquired by the inquiry, it is possible to narrow down apparatuses to only apparatuses that provide desired service. However, the COD identifies the kind of the device, and the COD does not identify the service itself. For example, also in the case where a category of settlement service exists in the CCD, in the above-described example all registers belong to that category, and the CCD is not helpful in shortening the user's selection time.
On the other hand, infrared ray, which is one of short-range communication means, has directivity as compared with wireless communication. By only directing the infrared ray to a specific apparatus, the user can conduct communication with that apparatus. At the present time, infrared ray is adopted in portable telephones, and a member management system using infrared ray is implemented. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to adjust the direction of an infrared ray device and communication is disconnected unless the same posture is maintained while communication is being conducted.
Contrary, wireless communication has a characteristics that once communication with a desired opposite party has been established, there is no directivity and also in the case where there are some obstacles between two apparatuses, communication is possible. However, it is difficult to establish a connection with a specific apparatus.
For example, in the case where there are one customer (one Bluetooth portable terminal) and one register (one Bluetooth apparatus), the relation between the Bluetooth portable terminal carried by a customer who makes payment and the cash register is determined uniquely and consequently there is no problem concerning the connection. In other words, if a person who operates the Bluetooth portable terminal has found a Bluetooth apparatus by using the above-described Bluetooth apparatus search function, the found apparatus can be regarded as a cash register to which payment should be made.
In the case of a store in which a plurality of cash registers are disposed in a range in which the Bluetooth portable can conduct communication, however, the other adjacent cash registers are also found. The user carrying the Bluetooth portable terminal needs to ascertain the kind and name of a cash register to which payment should be made, and select the cash register from among the found cash registers.
If extra time is needed to select the opposite party of communication, it takes time until the user gets service and the convenience for the user is worsened. Especially in the case of payment at a register in a store, the processing operations in the cash registers are hindered at the time of congestion when a large number of customers form lines. In addition, if a person who operates the Bluetooth portable terminal specifies a wrong cash register, such troubles occur that a discount from the amount due might be not conducted although a coupon is used, or points of another person might be added to those of the person operating the Bluetooth portable terminal. In the case where such troubles have occurred, cancellation work needs to be conducted in both the Bluetooth portable terminal and the cash register, and a great deal of labor is needed.
Therefore, an operator of a cash register needs to ascertain from the customer whether the connected Bluetooth portable terminal is right, by using some information accompanying the Bluetooth portable terminal. Such selection or ascertainment work is not a good interface for a customer who makes payment, and it hinders the work of the operator.
Such problems occur in the same way also in the case where data are exchanged or data is transmitted and received between information processing apparatuses. For the information processing apparatus, a remote name having its owner as an identification name is set. In the case of a portable information processing apparatus of an individual, a name provided by the individual cannot be arbitrated. Therefore, there is a possibility that there is a portable information processing apparatus having the same remote name around the user. In this case, there is not an easy method that assures the connection with a proper apparatus, and for reliable connection there is no way other than changing the remote name of the opposite party of the connection to the unique one.